Tuesday, December 09, 2008

I thought I would share some pictures of Tucker, our Yorkchon (that's half Yorkie and half Bichon) with you all. Little Tuck is 14 weeks old and has been a part of our family for 6 weeks. He is the very first pet that I've ever had and he's proving to be the sweetest, smartest dog that I've ever met. Seriously, he's learned to sit and shake in the last 2 weeks and now to impress people, I make him do it while we're in the elevator.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

I spent this weekend attempting to try and recuperate from a busy week at work and the overall blah feelings I've been having about life in general. Friday night, Ross and I went to one of our favorite places for happy hour with some of our friends. It was great to be in good company and eat good food. We came home and had an early night- having a puppy and it being really cold here in DC makes it an easy decision to stay in.

Saturday morning, we took Tucker to get his first puppy haircut, had breakfast at this cute little diner, and worked on getting our Christmas presents together. I'm doing these awesome frames for our grandparents and trying to take advantage printing photos and giving personalized gifts. Yesterday was my sister's 18th birthday so we spent some time with my family today and took some time this morning to enjoy doing nothing. It was awesome.

It was great to have some down time this weekend and to not really have anywhere to be. Hope you had a good weekend with your friends and family!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

With the pretty awful experience that I had this past weekend, I'm trying to rebound. Mentally and physically. I'm trying to take the best care of myself that I possibly can, by scheduling appointments and making sure all of my diabetes supplies are fully stocked, and by wearing my Dexcom starting tonight since my new batch of sensors arrived this afternoon. Counting carbs, bolusing, and check constantly.

Mentally, I'm trying to forgive myself for what happened. I'm trying to live by what my dad told me on Sunday morning: this was just a bad lap. If I focus on that lap, I'm never going to win the race. I need to adjust the car, tighten the seat belts, and drive. (Yes, I grew up in a NASCAR household---and my dad is great at motivating me). And I'm trying to not think about the "what ifs".

I'm hoping that with the weekend approaching and the fact I don't have a ton of stuff to do, I can relax, catch up on sleep, and enter next week ready to face whatever's thrown my way.

When things like this happen does it take you a bit to rebound and get it together?

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

This weekend I spent some time with my best friend in VA Beach, doing fun girl stuff and catching up. It really hasn't been the two of us since college, so we went shopping and made plans to go out with her coworkers on Friday night and I was soooo excited. We got ready together, listened to music, and had a snack, just like our college days. Before we left, my blood sugar was higher than I would like, but I bolused for my turkey sandwich and out the door I went.

At the bar, I had 2 drinks over the course of a few hours which normally isn't a problem. I checked my blood sugar and saw that I was 340 mg/dl and bolused a bit, think that with the 2 rum and diet cokes, I would come down and didn't want to crash. We headed to another place and after dancing a bit, I started to feel very strange. My friend Kristen said that I got very white and started complaining that my head hurt. Unfortunately, I started to get very sick and ended up throwing up several times. Kristen, who lived with me for several years, and works in the medical supply business knew that with the diabetes, this was a sign that we needed to get some help. I think I remember when we first moved in together saying "If I start throwing up, just get me a doctor." I was so weak at this point, her coworkers carried me to the car and to the ER we went. Moderate ketones, 494 mg/dl, and overall funk. The nurses at the ER were nice and I was able to answer their questions, but I was surprised that they never asked about my pump sites nor do I remember them checking them. I seriously felt like a dump trunk ran me over and slept while they re hydrated me. When I was discharged- around 300 no less- I got home changed out my pump cartridge and tubing. When I went to bolus, I got a "blockage detected" at the pump site.

I just keep thinking that normally, I'm pretty much a champ at taking care of this disease, but when I least expected something to happen and wasn't prepared or paying attention, something really bad does. In the matter of about 2 hours, I got myself into a really awful situation because I was just living my life. Dancing with my friends, meeting new people, and then all of a sudden- BAM!

Recovering from this episode has been pretty disheartening because I can think of all the things I should have done differently. Put the CGMS on, check the site when you're high, wear your medical ID (what if you'd been alone traveling like you have to for work?), carry an extra pen for correction (and ditch the clutch- carry a hobo bag everywhere).

Diabetes is strange, because as soon as you think you've got it mastered, it slaps you across the face and laughs at you.

About Me

Allison

Welcome! My name is Allison and this is my story. What's Low Snacks and Lip Gloss? Low Snacks are anything with fast acting glucose that I can gobble up when my blood sugar is low, which happens more than most (I have Type 1 diabetes). Lip Gloss is something that I seem to always have in my purse and tend to use excessively.
Basically, this blog talks about my diabetes life (low snacks!) and my twentysomething life (lip gloss!). And anything else that might come up!